True Silence and Methods
of
Its Attainment
Many
people think they can attain inner stillness through silent meditation,
but they are unreceptive to the stillness that is omnipresent. They hear
only noise everywhere.
All around there are
distractions, all kinds of sounds come from every direction. While you are
disturbed by the noise around you, my soul is in contact with the
dimensions of the boundless silence within these sounds. I perceive the
dimension of unending silence through my inner faculties - a dimension
of absolute calm pervading and dwelling within all this incessant noise.
You cannot run away from
the noise, and if you do, you flee also from God who is present in the
noise. On the other hand if you stay in the midst of the noise without
being able to perceive its inherent silence, you grow sick and get
disturbed, distracted and nervous like any ordinary person.
True meditation is a great
art. The soul alone knows this art. It is not described in books. Much
work has to be done on oneself before one is able to listen to the eternal
divine sounds. Great purification of the heart through unceasing selfless
service, rigorous self-discipline, and cultivation of pure thoughts and
feelings is necessary. It is essential to live for many years among people
who are devoted to God and Truth. Many conditions have to be fulfilled,
before one can be successful in controlling the mind and before the soul
opens itself to the infinite silence of Truth.
People are misguided. They
think by reading books on meditation and then meditating according to
manual their success is assured, but even if by some magic they were
transported directly into the heart of the Divinity, there they would not
experience God, but the ineradicable thoughts and feelings that haunt
them. They are not in a position to experience God on the restless surface
of their being.
Even if you think you are
calm and tranquil, in truth you are restless. Silence is something
entirely different from keeping the body still and suppressing a few
thoughts. When the surface of a lake is disturbed your face cannot be
reflected clearly in it. In the same way Truth cannot be reflected in your
mind as long as it is agitated. And your mind is always disturbed, always
restless, even in deep-sleep, or when you believe yourself in deep
meditation.
The most wonderful method
of purification is mantra repetition. The mantra assumes the duty of
creating all the necessary conditions and circumstances for your spiritual
development and awakening the higher faculties of Truth-experience, till
finally the mantra reveals itself to you as God, as Truth.
There are many methods of
purification. We can wash clothes with water and soap, or we may dry-clean
them chemically, or through heat or oxygen or radiation with shortwaves.
In the same way there are many methods to purify the subconscious, the
mind, the heart and the will.
Some saints purified
themselves through the inner heat generated by severe austerities. But
this is not the only method. One can purify oneself completely inside and
outside through the fire of devotion, through the fire of the psychic
energies released by mantra repetition, or through the fire of divine
knowledge, meditation and contemplation.
You achieve more with the
help of these spiritual disciplines than through any physical exercise.
Constant repetition of the mantra generates a great psychic fire that
burns completely all impurities of the body, heart, will and blood.
Let your mind be silent,
while you repeat the mantra. Let your heart and soul be silent, let the
depths of your consciousness be silent, let everything inside and outside
be silent and establish in this stillness the presence of the infinite
Truth, Beauty, Love, Light and Peace.
Silence is not an
attribute of the body or of the outer world, not even of the mind. Silence
of mind and body or of the outer surroundings is a superficial appearance
that is not of any particular value. It may serve as an instrument, but
true silence can be attained without such outer means.
- Swami
Omkarananda
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